Description Set before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, this Native American Indian sat by the curbside on October 15, 1969 during the moratorium in protest to the war in Vietnam. Believed to be the largest demonstration in U.S. history, he was among the 250,000 demonstrators in Washington and among the estimated two million protesters nationwide. The acrylic painting on canvas was started in New York in 1970, when I was attending the School of Visual Arts. After encountering difficulties in the United States I brought this painting with me to Montreal. Because I was unable to provide enough signatures to show proof to Canadian officials that the painting was, in fact, owned and painted by me, I returned to the United States without it. Consequently, the painting was not completed until four years later after it was smuggled back into the United States by a dear Canadian friend, Monica Dorfman. With deep gratitude, I post the image of this painting as a testament of appreciation to all those who helped me survive this difficult period in American history. The painting was completed in 1974, when the last Americans evacuated Saigon.

I.M. Spadecaller, Tampa BayMember Since March 2010Artist Statement Matthew Schwartz (AKA Spadecaller) is a grateful survivor who conveys his deepest passions, convictions, and serenity through visual art, poetry, and video.

As a child, he was formally trained in traditional oil techniques and later attended The School of Visual Arts in New York City (1970-71). During the 70's up until the late 80's he exhibited acrylic and oils in Montreal and New York, and presently resides on the west coast of Florida.

Since the advent of image editing software, he has turned more to creative digital hand painted images and photos striving to fuse these into an art form worthy of the distinction traditional painters deserve.

Using HD videos formats, he showcase his digital paintings, poetry, other mixed media images; these are available for viewing at: http://www.youtube.com/user/Thespadecaller.